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Updated: Jan 29, 2026
12:52
High-Throughput Live Imaging of Microcolonies to Measure Heterogeneity in Growth and Gene Expression
Published on: April 18, 2021
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Microcolony Size Distribution Assay Enables High-Throughput Cell Survival Quantitation
Le P Ngo1, Tze Khee Chan2, Jing Ge1
1Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Cell Reports
|February 7, 2019
Summary
The MicroColonyChip offers a rapid, automated method for cell survival analysis, significantly reducing assay time from weeks to days. This high-throughput screening compatible technology provides sensitive and robust quantitation of cell viability.
Area of Science:
- Cell biology
- Assay development
- High-throughput screening
Background:
- Cell survival is a critical biological endpoint.
- The traditional colony formation assay (CFA) is time-consuming and not compatible with high-throughput screening (HTS).
- Existing assays like XTT and CellTiter-Glo have limitations in sensitivity or robustness.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a rapid and automated method for cell survival quantitation.
- To overcome the limitations of the traditional colony formation assay.
- To provide a sensitive and robust alternative for cell viability assessment.
Main Methods:
- Development of the MicroColonyChip using microwell array technology.
- Analysis of microcolonies using fluorescence microscopy and automated size distribution analysis.
- Validation through studies of radiosensitivity and chemosensitivity.
Main Results:
- The MicroColonyChip analyzes microcolonies in days, compared to weeks for CFA.
- Achieves comparable sensitivity to CFA and greater sensitivity than the XTT assay.
- Demonstrates comparable sensitivity and improved robustness over CellTiter-Glo, unaffected by seeding density variations.
- Successfully applied to radiosensitivity and chemosensitivity studies and shown to be multiplexable.
Conclusions:
- The MicroColonyChip is a rapid, automated, and sensitive alternative for cell survival quantitation.
- It overcomes the time and HTS incompatibility limitations of the CFA.
- This technology offers a robust and versatile tool for various cell-based assays.
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